Fall of Savage
by NickelAz
Summary: For the past 7 years Judy and Nick have worked side by side, eventually climbing up to the rank Detective Sergeant. Everything has been relatively quiet until a series of shootings shake the city. Police investigate, eventually coming up with a surprising suspect. But further investigating causes Nick and Judy to realize that things aren't always as they seem.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

 _Alright, you got this. No need to be worried, everyone's proud of you. You're gonna walk out there and everyone is gonna cheer. Yeah… Just flash your award winning smile and everything's gonna be just fine…_

"Hey, Nicholas."

Nick opened his eyes, looking to his right to see a bunny looking back at him with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." A lie. He most definitely was not fine. Realizing he was crushing the armrests with his paws, he tried to relax. Looking back to the front of the room, he watched the Chief continue giving his speech to the graduating ZPA recruits, a speech he was going to have to continue in just a few moments. " I'm just _really_ nervous." He whispered back.

"Why? There's no reason to be nervous, just go up there and do your best." Judy smiled, trying to calm his nerves.

He sighed. "Easy for you to say. I know you mean well, it's just that lying to me isn't gonna help. I know there are animals out in that crowd who don't think I deserve to be where I am today, I mean c'mon, we pass animals everyday who feel that way."

"So what?" Judy exclaimed, drawing a few annoyed glares from animals around them. She shrunk down into her seat, mouthing an apologetic 'sorry'. Turning back to Nick, she continued, quietly this time. "So you may have "conned" animals out of their money, or at least that's the way some animals see it. But if you think about it, you didn't really. Think of it as good business. Those mice couldn't eat a jumbo pop, unless they were trying to kill themselves. So you saw an opportunity to make money and took it. What's so bad about that?"

Nick shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. Then again, I wasn't exactly honest about the 'redwood'."

 _Oh yeah, those mice._ She smiled at the memory, still wondering how the rodents had fallen for such an obvious play on words. "Well, contractors always lie about what material they're using."

"Still…" His thought was cut short when he heard his named called by Chief Bogo.

"And now I would like to introduce our speaker for today, an officer, now detective, who I have had the _wonderful_ privilege of working with over the past seven years." Bogo shot a semi-playful glance towards the fox, and the fox smirked right back. "Please welcome Detective Sergeant Nicholas Piberius Wilde."

"It's your time to shine buddy," Judy whispered, motioning for him to take the stage. _Hooray, my dreams have come true._ Nick slowly shuffled up to the podium, the audience clapping politely.

He smiled at the crowd, waiting for the applause to die down. It didn't take long. _Great, they hate me already._ "Thank you Chief. Now, many of you already know who I am, and how I came to be where I am today. I owe that mainly to my wife and partner, Judy, who encouraged me to be greater than I was and never gave up on me, even when I did."

He looked around at the different faces of the graduates. Each subsequent year after the year he had graduated from the academy, the classes slowly got more diverse, with more and more smaller animals joining and graduating. This year there were even a couple of mice.

"When I was little, I was pushed into being a stereotype because of the way I was treated. Now, that's not an excuse for my actions, but I figured why not if there wasn't anything I could do to help myself. I went through twenty years of my life with that mindset. I wasted those twenty years, twenty years I could've spent helping people, making life better and safer like I do now. When Judy came along, I laughed at her. A lot of people did." He scratched behind his right ear apprehensively. _Most everyone is still paying attention, that's a good sign._ He paused, glancing toward Judy, who gave him an encouraging smile.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "She preached about the Zootopia slogan, 'Zootopia - Where Anyone Can Be Anything'!" He laughed, and a few animals gave him supportive smiles.

"At the time, it was just a saying that gave the city a good image. Realistically, it was more like anyone could be anything as long as society accepted it. While some animals had it harder than others, almost every animal you came across could feel the pressure at some level. I tried to put her down, to make her realize she couldn't do what she had set out to do. But she refused. It was blind, stupid naivety, she almost lost her job, courtesy of our beloved Chief." The buffalo let out an exasperated sigh, covering his face with his hooves in embarrassment while the crowd chuckled.

"But she did it. Not only did she stop the city from being torn apart, but she showed everyone that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. And she and I demonstrated that no matter what your differences, you have the ability to get along, and together, you can be stronger than you could ever be alone. And so that's the mindset I want to leave you with today. I'm gonna borrow from a well-known speech, but I'm sure the author will forgive me. "Try." Try to be better than you are now. That's the only way we're ever going to be able to truly move forward as a city and as a group. You may receive some resistance, some backlash, but unless you're willing to push past all that, nothing will ever be accomplished. Try to look into each other's souls, and deep down, you'll find that everyone has a good heart, sometimes it just takes a little persuading. Thank you."

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Nick smiled and blushed shyly as he stepped down from the stage.

"See Nick? I told you everyone would love it!" The rabbit smiled and gave him a hug. Nick smiled and blew out a sigh of relief. "I am never doing that again."

"Oh stop it." She punched him playfully on the arm. "They _loved_ you!"

 _So they did, so they did._ Nick smiled. Never in his life would he have thought people would like him, that they'd cheer for him no less. But there he was, at a police academy graduation no less. Life sure did have a way of changing things for the better, if you'd allow it.

* * *

After the graduation ceremony concluded, Nick and Judy decided to just go out to eat. This year's batch of recruits had been quite a bit larger than years past, making the ceremony run quite late. They chose to go to IHOPP, the 'International House of Palatable Pancakes. Despite the odd name, the food was delicious. Nick ordered a grilled critter burger, and Judy chose a simple Caesar salad.

While they waited for their food they made simple small talk. "Do you think Bogo's gonna be mad at me?" Nick asked, regretting making his comment about the Chief and Judy.

"For what?" She smirked. "Hurting his feewings?"

Nick laughed, imagining the huge hulk of a buffalo crying in a corner because someone hurt his feelings. Bogo would sooner smash someone into the ground than let anyone see him cry. _Is he even capable of crying?_ His thoughts were interrupted by the waiter, a rather large elk. He brought out their food, bid them a good meal, and left.

As they ate they made simple small talk until Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a small little box. "So, yesterday I stopped by that pleasant little candy shop, the one owned by Luca Ursus. Anyway, I found these _delicious_ little chocolates and you just _have_ to try them." He held out the box for Judy to see.

She eyed them suspiciously, picking one out and examining it. "What's in them?"

"Well, there's an assortment of dark, milk, and white chocolate shells. Then on the inside, there's either a raspberry or strawberry filling, or a chocolate cream." He paused to pop one in his mouth. "Occasionally you'll find one with some kind of nut, like roasted peanuts. Try one, they're really good."

Judy shrugged. "Alright…" She picked up a white chocolate one and sniffed it before setting it in her mouth. "It's really sweet! And… crunchy?" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "What did you do?"

His muzzle pulled back into a sly grin. "Oh, I must've forgotten." Her heart started to fill with dread. "My friend Luca is a bear, and as everyone knows, bears absolutely love bugs."

 _I'm gonna be sick._ "Nick, why?" She whined, trying to scrape bug bits off her tongue.

He clasped his paws together like a therapist. "You see Carrots, you actually _do_ like consuming members of the insecta class." He lowered an imaginary pair of glasses. "By tricking you into eating one, I have revealed to you that your imaginary fear of bugs was just that, imaginary. How does that make you feel?"

"Well, first of all, I thought the chocolate was good, not the bug, definitely not the bug. Second, I'm a rabbit, and rabbits, as everyone knows, have never before eaten a living creature, well, at least not on purpose. I'm happy that you want me to try new things, but some things just aren't going to change."

Nick just sat there, expressionless. "Can't blame a tod for trying." Looking over at a clock on the wall, his eyebrows raised in surprise. _That can't be right._ He took out his phone to corroborate his findings. "Jeez Louise, Judy, it's 1 in the morning! Don't we have to work tomorrow?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Shoot, you're right, we better go."

They left two twenties on the table as payment and rushed out the door, nearly running down a _very_ well dressed jackrabbit in the process. _Ooh, that's a nice suit,_ Nick thought in admiration. _Gotta get me one of those._ "Hey, sorry sir!" He yelled over his shoulder, trying to keep up with Judy. Instead of responding, the rabbit ignored him, and continued down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, keeping his head down. _Rude… Well, maybe he just didn't hear me._

Turning his focus back to running, he and Judy ran back home with the hope of getting at least a few hours of sleep before heading off to work in the morning.

 **Alright! First chapter done. I'd like to thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This is the first story I've ever done, so bear with me. I know this may have seemed like a boring chapter, but every story needs a beginning, this one just happens to be a slow one. But trust me, things are gonna start picking up quickly! :) So, if you wouldn't mind, please follow and favorite my story, or just follow it and you can decide if you like it later on when things get exciting.**

 **Well, I guess that's it from me. Until next time! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

 _Thank you Phil for that lovely rendition of Buck's Violin Concerto in E Major. Very nice. Now, moving out of our baroque section and starting of our pop segment, we have a contest._

 _That's right everyone, today the contest is a riddle, and the first animal to call in with the correct answer wins two front row seats to Gazelle's first concert of her upcoming tour, along with backstage passes._

 _Oooh, fancy. Alright, here we go with the riddle. I grow down as I grow up. What am I?_

Judy turned the radio down. "What do you think?"

Nick opened his eyes and sat up. "What," he yawned, "Do I think about what?"

"The riddle. I wanna win so I can go to the concert."

"Oh. Well..." he began before being interrupted by the radio.

 _Hello caller number four, do you think you know the answer?_

 _Yes! Do I tell you?_

 _Well, if you would like to win, then yes._

 _Ok ok, a_ duck _grows down as it grows up!_

 _Congratulations! You've just wo…_

Judy slammed the radio off. "Thanks Nick, you're no help."

"How was I supposed to get the answer that fast? How did they go through four callers that fast? Honey bunny, I'm almost positive these contests are rigged, just to keep people listening."

"Hmph." Judy crossed her arms, annoyed at her misfortune.

"Oh, don't be sad. I know what'll make you feel better. Food. It has a way of doing that. So why don't we go to…"

 _Detectives Hopps and Wilde, please report to Chief Bogo's office. Detectives Hopps and Wilde._

 _Uugh._ Nick threw his head back in frustration. "C'mon, let's hurry and get this over with so I can eat."

The detectives left their office and went to the second story, arriving at Bogo's office. Instead of knocking, Nick barged in. "Yo, Chief, let's hurry this up, I'm hungry."

"Have you no sense of respect?" The buffalo snorted. He continued looking at papers on his desk.

"Well, I…"

"No one cares. Moving on," Bogo removed his glasses and looked up at the pair. "There was a shooting at a warehouse in Tundratown. There were three victims, all fatalities, a skunk, a warthog, and a buffalo. It's pretty grisly, you'll wanna get down there soon."

"Can't we just go in like, I don't know, an hour?" Nick complained. "I'm hungry."

"Nick, it was a multiple homicide." Judy said. "Time is of the essence."

"True, but what's 15 extra minutes gonna do?" He asked with a pleading smile, hoping they'd let him get food.

"Detective Wilde, I don't know how you were raised, but society, as a whole, generally tries to respect the dead. Making those animals lie there any longer than necessary is _not_ respectful." Nick tried to interject a comment, but Bogo cut him off. "Not only that, it's also a matter of evidence. The longer the crime idly sits there, the higher chance there is of contamination."

Nick tried to negotiate, getting more desperate by the second. "Look, the crime happened in Tundratown, and since Tundratown is freezing, the bodies decompose slower. So just an insy winsy little bit of time can't hurt." He looked to his partner for support, but she just stood there shaking her head.

The buffalo simply sat and stared at the fox for a few tense moments. He then spoke up in a monotone voice, "Mr. Wilde, do you like your job?"

"Fine, fine, you win. Let's go Judy, gotta get this over with."

Judy followed Nick to the door, whispering sorry to the Chief before starting to close the door. "Wait!" Bogo exclaimed. Nick slowly walked back in. "There was actually another attack, this one in the Nocturnal District. Check up on that one once you're done with the one in Tundratown." He grinned, knowing the fox was very irritated.

Nick stared blankly at Bogo before taking a deep breath and turning to walk out the door. "You have a weird sense of humor" he mumbled as he walked out.

* * *

 _Honk honk! "_ C'mon, let's go!" Judy yelled at the traffic in front of them. It was almost noon, and as such many animals were on their lunch break. Some animals refused to move their cars, but most tried, unfortunately to no avail. Animals is different sizes drove cars appropriate to their size. To avoid smaller animals being crushed, each lane supported a certain car class. Despite their smaller size, Nick and Judy drove a rather large police cruiser and had to stay in the large vehicle lane.

"Could've gotten food…" Nick grumbled. Judy shot him a warning glare. "Ok, ok, fine I'll stop. Moving on. What do we got?"

"The only things that _we_ know are that there are the three victims in Tundratown, and I just heard that there are two in the Nocturnal District, a ferret and a cougar. Officers already secured the scene, so everyone's just waiting for us. Unfortunately," she yawned, "Since a crime of this magnitude hasn't happened in quite a long time, there's an army of reporters."

"Alright. Hey, the army of reporters could end up being fun." The fox grinned mischievously.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see…"

* * *

As they pulled up to the first scene, Nick handed ear plugs to Judy. "What are these for?" she asked, quickly putting them in her ears.

"You'll see… or should I say… you'll _hear_." Nick put his paws on the controls for the sirens, lights, and horns, and went to town. The following noise hurt Judy's ears, even with the ear plugs, leaving her writhing in pain. It was the most godawful sound she had ever heard. The sudden noise caused the reporters to scatter like leaves in the wind. Once there was a nice, big, clear path, Nick turned off the sirens. He looked over to Judy and waited for her to look at him.

Once the ringing in her ears had stopped, the rabbit slowly took her earplugs out and looked at her partner with the most hateful look he had ever seen. "Ok, first of all, I have incredibly sensitive ears, so loud sounds _hurt_! Second, you can get in pretty serious trouble for unsanctioned use of the sirens."

"Sorry." He was unapologetic, mad that no one found his prank funny. Hopping out of the cruiser, he closed the door and straightened his suit. _Should I go for professional or casual? Probably professional._ He tightened his tie. Together, they made their way to the warehouse. Flashing their badges at the guarding officers, they stepped inside.

" _Woah…_ "

The inside was horrendous. Most of the blood was on the floor, though there was some on the walls in various spatter patterns. Because of the cold, the blood on the walls had frozen, causing the scene to look like a picture, a very creepy picture. The warthog was holding the back door open with her body, having been killed so close to escaping. Despite having had body armor, a bullet had managed its way to the hog's lower back. The buffalo wasn't as lucky. It appeared as though he had been riddled with bullets, though his body armor had caught most of them. The left side of his skull had a small dent, suggesting blunt force trauma, most likely knocking him out, before being killed execution style, a single bullet to the back of his head.

The skunk was the most unlucky of all. Due to the high caliber of the bullets used to take down the hog and buffalo, he had been blown in half. A bullet had most likely punctured his scent gland, allowing the thiols to leak out, causing a very foul smell to permeate throughout the warehouse.

Nick gagged. "It just had to be a skunk…" Judy elbowed him. "Be _respectful._ "

They walked over to the blood spatter analyst, a reddish-brown furred badger named Dexter. He was already setting up his strings, trying to establish what had happened. "Whatcha got buddy?" Nick called out.

The badger looked up. "Oh, well, from what I can tell, all three were caught by surprise. It's looking like the skunk was hit first, and I'm no coroner, but I'd be surprised if he hadn't died instantly. Moving on, the hog grabbed her weapon and let out a hail of bullets, all of which seemingly hit this wall," he pointed to the wall behind him. "She was hit in the leg while running away, and almost escaped. Unfortunately, she was fatally shot and died while opening the door. The buffalo however, man, the dude was a beast, I counted 13 bullets caught in his vest just walking past him. His demise was most likely a direct result of the hog opening the back door. It seems most assailants were trying to gain access through the back, but couldn't get through the door, until the warthog opened it." He smiled nervously and shrugged. "Ironic, huh?"

"Yeah…" Judy was thinking hard about she had just been told. "There wasn't any other blood belonging to anyone else, assailants or otherwise?"

"Well, there isn't any blood or evidence of someone trying to clean blood up anywhere else in here, so unless someone died right where we're standing, I don't see anything to suggest that there are any other casualties."

Nick looked around at the badger's handiwork. It looked like a mess to him, but he was sure it meant something. "Could anyone have escaped?" He asked, returning his attention to the analyst.

"Uh…" The badger was surprised by the question, and stumbled over his words for a minute. "I, uh, well, I'm no detective, only the blood guy, but I don't think so. Whoever killed them had both entrances covered, and there hasn't been any sign of a false entrance, so I don't think so." He scratched his head, looking around before spotting the polar bear in the distance. "If you want, there's more for you see over where Officer Snarlof is standing."

The detective duo looked and spotted the officer. "Alright, thanks."

They made their way over to the bear. On the way, Judy had a thought. "Hey, did you even come across these kinds of animals before?"

Nick hung his head in embarrassment. "Really?"

"It's for the case, only for the case."

He let out a sigh. "Fine. What do you wanna know?"

"If you had to guess, what would you say is in these boxes?" She gestured to the walls of boxes they were walking by.

The fox shrugged. "These around us most likely have either nothing or just cheap stuff. Might be stolen, I don't know."

"Huh, weird." She was confused. _Why would animals be guarding nothing?_

Snarlof noticed the pair approaching and waved. "Hey guys."

"Hey."

"So, most of these boxes are empty. Probably why they're still here. But as you can see," he pointed to an area of the ground where there were squares of lighter gray, suggesting there had been boxes there before. "Some may have been taken. There's no proof yet that any were taken, they could've just been moved, but it's still something."

Judy looked up at Nick. "What do you think?"

"Well, if they were taken, it's probably because they contained drugs, weapons, or money." He looked up. "It seems like at least 10 are missing, so they probably had drugs, possibly a few weapons…" He paused, not wanting to continue. Judy sensed he had more to say and motioned for him to continue. Nick sighed and went on. "Before the recent crackdown on drugs, a common way to make easy money, if you didn't mind possibly dying, was raiding a drug lord's' warehouses. You steal the drugs and weapons, and sell everything to a rival dealer at lower than street value. Technically _you_ could do the selling, but it would risk your chances of getting caught."

"Did it work?" Snarlof piped up.

"Most of the time. Many crews were all killed eventually, be in through trying to steal the drugs, or in retaliation. With the increase in drug raids, animals eventually stopped doing it for fear of getting caught or from fear of dying once drug lords got more security." He paused and thought for a moment. "Ya know, the interesting thing about this one in particular is that seemingly no one in the raiding party was hit. Not only that, but they were trained, even if just a little. Finnick and I knew some animals who did this sorta thing back in the day, but none of them lasted very long. Definitely not long enough to get this good."

The bunny's mouth opened in realization. "You don't think someone in law enforcement could've done this?"

Snarlof chuckled. "Well, on our salary…" He looked over to see Judy's surprised reaction and laughed with Nick. "Kidding, I'm kidding. Besides, I feel like most of the corruption was snuffed out during the Night Howler case." The trio stood and thought about it for a moment.

"Huh, maybe." Nick wondered if corruption had sprouted again. "Anyway, if you wouldn't mind, we have to go to yet another crime scene, similar to this one, so could you have CSI process the area? And were there any witnesses?"

"Yeah I got it, and unfortunately no, at least none that will talk."

"And could you find out who the warehouse belongs to, and ask the coroner to hurry with their identities." Judy gestured to the dead animals.

"You got it. Oh, and one last thing. The lights are fine now, but when we got here, the electricity was cut. The only light that could've come in during the attack would've been the daylight coming through those windows." He pointed to windows that were high up near the ceiling. "But, as you can see, they're really dirty, so not a lot of light comes through. I'm surprised that pig got as far as she did."

"Huh, thanks for that. Alright Nick, let's go."

As they walked out the door, the reporters who had regathered saw Nick and scurried away, creating a path. He smiled triumphantly, but Judy covered her face in embarrassment.

* * *

"How do you plan to see?"

Judy looked at Nick in confusion. "What?"

"How do you plan to see? We're entering the Nocturnal District, it's dark, you don't have night vision like me." Nick boasted of his advantage.

"They already lit up the crime scene, it's gonna be bright as day."

"Well, that seems rude, the poor animals are trying to sleep. We could just wait for nightfall and get some food while we wait." Nick smiled hopefully.

"No."

 _Uugh._ The tod went full body limp and pouted, acting like a kid trying to get their way.

As they reached the tunnel that lead down to the darkness, Judy reached over to turn on the headlights, but Nick grabbed her arm. "Why don't I drive? I can see without the headlights, just let the animals sleep in peace."

"Suit yourself." They switched places and continued on into the Nocturnal District. There was no need for a map, seeing as how only one spot in the entire underground complex was currently lit up. Since most of the animals around were asleep, not many people had heard about the attack, so there weren't many reporters. The reporters already there weren't in the way taking pictures however, since a camera's flash carried a fine during the dark hours.

Officers Wolford and Fangmeyer walked over to meet them. "Detectives."

"Officers. What do we got?" Nick said, putting on his glasses. The other two predators also had glasses on, their eyes being sensitive to the bring lights.

"One elk, one leopard, both DOA." Fangmeyer stated matter-of-factly, turning around to lead the detectives to the house. "They had their throats slashed, doesn't look like they knew what hit them."

As they stepped into the house, Nick and Judy were surprised by the somewhat neatness of the house. There were some cabinets opened and their contents thrown about, but for the most part, the house was in near perfect order. A small elk sat slumped over on the couch, TV still on. His clothes were soaked with his own blood, a little of which had gotten onto the couch. Further back, in the bedroom, a snow leopard lay dead on the bed, blood pooling around his head.

"As it would seem, both animals were asleep when the attack started." Wolford thought about it for a second. "Actually, when you think about it, it's more like an assassination. Anyway, it would seem that the attackers were divided into two groups, one came in the front door, the other the back."

"Does it seem like anything was taken? Drugs, weapons?"

"Well, this house was a known drug hotspot." The tiger scratched the back of her head. "It'd get raided, they'd come back, we'd raid it again, they'd come back again, you get the gist. Obviously we can't know for sure, but it wouldn't be too out of this world to suggest that some illegal paraphernalia was taken."

"Great." Judy mumbled. "Thank you guys." The two officers smiled and left the room. She observed the room around her, looking for any evidence at all. So far, CSI hadn't found any fur or DNA at either scene, leaving the detectives with almost nothing to go on. Whoever was killing these animals clearly had skill, which was a little scary. They hadn't attacked civilians or police yet, only criminals, but if they decided to start going for 'easier' prey, who could stop them? Nick spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.

"I don't see how this is a big deal. I'd say we're hunting a vigilante, an extremely skilled vigilante. The only animals getting hurt are drug dealers and dangerous criminals. Why should we stop them?"

"Nick!" Judy exclaimed in disgust. "They're still animals, living, well, once living animals with friends and family who love them."

"Just saying," he stretched, "They're only making the streets safer."

"For now. Who's to say they won't change what they're doing and target less dangerous animals with more money?"

"Point taken." Nick slowly walked to the door. "Well, we can't do anything at the moment, we're still waiting on CSI and the coroner. So I say we go eat because it is now…" He looked at his phone. "Four in the afternoon. I've waited long enough."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Alright fine, where to commander?"

* * *

Bug-Burga was Nick's favorite place to eat. Predators needed bug and plant based proteins to substitute in for prey. Being the only prey animal in Bug-Burga at the moment made Judy feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't like she was the first rabbit to ever come in. Though it was rare, some prey had developed a taste for bugs.

Judy was not one of them.

A tiger came out with their food. Nick had gotten the bug haystack galore, along with his trademark blueberry shake. Judy opted for a simple grilled cricket salad, without the crickets. She scrunched her nose at the sight of the pile of bugs. "How do you _eat_ that?"

Nick smiled and obnoxiously spoke with a full mouth. "Whaaat? It's sooo goood!" Judy gagged.

"So…" The fox swallowed. "Who do you think did it? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm starting to think that maybe it's a group of ex-police or military members." Judy lowered her ears in worry, dreading the possibility. "Honestly I don't know who could possibly have the training necessary for this kind of thing besides them."

"Suppose that's true. Where would they have gotten the guns they used at the first scene? I doubt they would've used government issued ones. Too easy to trace."

"Pff, they could've just gotten some from any one of many arms dealers. Naturally, the more powerful the weapon or the higher the caliber, the harder it would be to find, but it could be done."

" _Great._ I guess we'll just have to wait for the reports to come back."

Judy and Nick looked up to the TV, where the news was reporting about the two scenes. "I guess they found out about the one in the dark." Nick mumbled.

 _Hello, I'm Brianna Potomus, reporting from the attack in the Nocturnal district._

The night vision camera made the hippo and everything around her shades of gray, with tints of green here and there.

 _Earlier reports that this was a shooting are incorrect, it appears to be a slashing. There are two confirmed fatalities. It is believed that the deceased are members of a crime organization, though their identities are not currently known. We'll bring you more information as it becomes known._

 _Thank you Brianna._ The camera switched back to the news anchors, Peter Moosebridge and Fabienne Growley. The moose continued. _In other interesting news, our camera crews caught this footage of police allegedly abusing their sirens in Tundratown. Let's take a look._

Nick's eyes opened wide in anticipation. The TV showed Nick and Judy's police cruiser roll up to the scene, and blast their sirens. It appeared that the cameraman had stumbled and fallen, the camera falling as well. The lens cracked and it cut back to the anchors.

 _The cameraman only suffered a sprained ankle, and the camera is replaceable. Nevertheless, ZNN executives are expected to contact the ZPD for repayment._

Judy chuckled in amusement. Nick closed his eyes and contemplated all the different ways Bogo could react to the news, none of which ended well for him. "I'm dead." He squeaked in a small voice.

Judy laughed. "No kidding…" Her phone rang. She pulled it out and looked at who was calling. "Oh, guess who it is." Nick snatched the phone.

"Sir, I'm extremely sorry. I-"

"Sorry for what?" Surprisingly, Bogo sounded more bored than normal.

 _He hasn't heard._ Nick was relieved. "For… My rudeness in your office earlier today. It was uncalled for and-"

"Yes, yes, be done with it. You're acting like Judy now, all emotional. Moving on, while you were in the Nocturnal District, there was a third shooting in the Rainforest District. This one is pretty bad, and you should hurry. There's reportedly a body on the gondola lift, and rush hour is coming. There's going to be a mass of animals, so you guys need to hurry so we can process this before we get overrun."

"Alright sir, we'll get on it immediately."

He hung up the phone, handing it back to Judy. She looked confused. "Did he not care about the camera?"

Nick smiled in relief. "No, luckily he hasn't heard about it yet. However, we do have yet another crime scene to go to, and once again, time is of the essence, so we gotta go now."

Judy took a deep breath and threw her arms up. "Alright let's go." As they walked out, Nick yelled to the bartender, "Yo, Jeff, put in on my tab." The ferret nodded in response.

The detectives jumped into their cruiser, started the sirens, more peacefully this time, and started on their way to the Rainforest District.

* * *

 **Yay! I'm done. As a new writer, I have a newfound respect for a writer's word count. It's a lot more writing than it seems.**

 **Anyway, I'd like to thank the 2 favorites and 3 follows. It sounds small, but it's still something. :)**

 **Anyway, I hope you're liking the way the story is going so far. I've always been an impromptu kinda guy, so I'm making the story up as a write it. Seriously, this story is just my flow of thought. So if you like it, please follow and/or favorite, and if you wouldn't mind, leave a review and tell me what you think.**

 **Lastly, I'd like to thank Astorathgrim for helping me with ideas and advice for the story. Check him out, he's writing a story right now that I'm enjoying. You can know it's good cause I'm editing it. :D jk**

 **That's all for now. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

As the sun started to near the tops of the mountains on the horizon, Nick and Judy arrived at the border between Downtown and the Rainforest District. So far, it had been a nice day, excluding the horrendous crimes committed that day. It was peaceful and sunny, though as they entered under the canopy of the massive trees, the sunlight faded into darkness, the only light coming from the breaks in the trees or from the dim street lights. Zootopia had been built in a meadow, so many district's climates were artificially controlled. The rainforest was no different. If Nick and Judy didn't hurry, the sprinklers would turn on and it would start to rain, potentially washing away evidence. The officers already at the scene were attempting to construct a makeshift tent, but that would only last so long.

By the time the detectives got there, it had already been raining for a good thirty minutes. It was only sprinkling at the moment, but the drops were getting bigger every minute. Nick and Judy parked, got out of the cruiser, and put on their raincoats. They started the long trek up stairs to the top of a tall kapok tree, around 180 feet up.

"How many steps do you think it is to the top?" Nick asked, looking up at the different platforms on the tree.

"Well, if we were bigger, like an elephant or rhino, maybe only 200 or so. But since we're not, I'm going to guess, maybe, 600, give or take." Nick grunted in annoyance. "Hey, don't be so disappointed. Construction crews were too lazy to build tiny stairs, so they just built a walkway that angles up ever so slightly. It's like walking up a hill for a mile."

"Huh…"

They arrived at the platform second to the top. Luckily, at this elevation, there was only a little rain. Continuing with their luck, there weren't many reporters yet because they were having trouble lugging up the heavy camera equipment. A young officer noticed them approaching and walked to greet them. "Detectives."

"Delgato. What's happening up here?" Nick shook the rain off his coat.

"Well, on the platform, we got two bodies, two wolves. Then if you would direct your attention to the sky tram," he pointed to a station far off in the distance. "There's a _really_ bloody leopard in a tram car. Workers found it and called us about ten minutes ago. Finally," the lion walked over the the edge, searching for a few moments before finding his target. He pointed. "An otter apparently fell. She's dressed like the other three, so I guess they were all together."

"Yeah I noticed that. What's up with the uniforms?" Judy inquired, observing the badge on the wolf's sleeve.

"From what I understand, all four members here work for the ZIA. No one would confirm it for me, but I can guess that they're part of a six animal strike team, or at least they were. Similar to SWAT, only they deal with matters that have to do with terrorism and the like." Delgato listened to a transmission on his radio before continuing. "Just a heads up, Chief Bogo is coming up with the director of the ZIA. And they don't sound happy, though when are they ever?" He chuckled.

"Okay. Let us look around here and then you can tell your guys to clean it up."

"You got it." Delgato walked away.

Judy walked over to where the wolves lay. They were both on their stomachs, shot in the back multiple times. It looked as if they had been running toward the tram car. She put on her gloves and picked up the assault rifles they had dropped. It was no easy task, seeing as how the rifles were just as big as her. Nick ran over to help her. With his help, she popped the magazine out, counting the rounds left. "Only thirteen left out of… thirty in this one and… four in this other one."

"So there was somewhat of a fight." Nick turned around and looking in the direction he thought they must've been firing. It was a complete mess, total disarray. "If I were to guess, I'd say they were firing from the hip, possibly while on the run. Doesn't look like they hit their targets. Not surprising."

Judy looked over in the direction she figured the bullets must've traveled. They mostly seemed to hit the massive trunk of the tree. The high jungle platforms were mostly rented out for parties and gatherings. Once you made the long climb, it was a beautiful view. Atop the right trees, you could see a good part of Zootopia. There was a mural painted on the wall, ruined from all the holes. Still, Detective Hopps imagined it must've been beautiful. She handed the rifle to Nick and walked over to where most of the stray fire had hit, looking up to study the picture. It depicted an ancient garden, colorful and lush. Judy hadn't grown up in a rainforest, but she could still recognize some flowers, like the solandra maxima and the anthurium. Stunning flowers, amazing colors. It really was too bad it had been marred this way.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car approaching. She turned around and waited, Nick walking over to her side. It was a black SUV, tinted windows, government plates. Chief Bogo stepped out, and following him was a bull the detectives hadn't met yet. They walked over to greet them.

"Detectives Nick and Judy Wilde-Hopps, Director Ischyri Tavros of the ZIA." Bogo introduced them, his voice surprisingly more gruff than usual. "The dead animals here were ZIA agents, specifically all agents of a strike team. They are like a SWAT team, only they deal with higher profile targets."

Nick's ears perked up in interest. _This case is getting more interesting every minute._ "Then why were they here all by themselves, no back up or anything? Why are you just now getting here?"

"Unfortunately," The bull began. His voice was much higher than his appearance would suggest. "These four animals unfortunately appear to have gone rogue. Over the past few months, many operations have gone wrong, all operations aiming to take down big crime syndicates." He walked over to the railing and looked down where the otter was. "Sometimes there'd be no one there, sometimes they'd have gotten rid of the evidence, and sadly, one time they were ready and waiting for us. Two agents died, one was paralyzed from the waist down." Tavros turned to look at the detectives.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Judy's ears drooped in sadness. "But your problem is solved now, right?"

The bull let out a slow sigh and waited a moment before answering. "It would appear that way. But we still have two animals unaccounted for, both members of the late team. A bear named Daga Baloo and a jackrabbit, Jack Savage. It really is too bad, I liked Jack. Real smart, he was."

Nick still couldn't understand why things went down the way they did. "Why end a good thing?" Everyone looked at him in disgust, so he gestured quotation marks with his fingers. "I'm just saying, they were on the take, clearly your animals had no idea what was happening or who was doing it. They must've been making good money. Why attack your allies and end up dead?"

Judy looked up at him. "Really? You, of all animals, don't know?" The fox glared at her. "Sorry, just saying, it's pretty clear. Money."

Tavros nodded. "Even though they had protection and a nice paycheck, money corrupts. I'm thinking that they stole drugs, money, weapons, and whatever else to sell. They would've gotten _much_ more money that way. Meeting here was a safe," he chuckled. "Well, _apparently_ a safe place to divide everything up. Two of them got greedy and killed the other four. Interesting, though, that one of the pair didn't at least try offing the other."

Judy, always one to see the good in animals, couldn't fully believe what she'd been told. "How do you know that both Jack and, oh, what was his name?"

"Daga."

"Yes, Daga. How do you know both Jack and Daga were in on it?"

"Well, it'd be hard to hide an operation so large from the animals you spend so much time around." Tarvos turned to Bogo, who had been on his phone talking with someone. He hung up and walked over.

"Make your way over to the tram station now." Bogo looked in that direction. "Animals are getting off work, and since they can't move the trams until we clear the scene, there's a crowd starting to build up."

"Alright, we'll get over there now." Nick started walking down the tree.

"It was a pleasure meeting you sir!" Judy said energetically. Tarvos simply nodded in response.

* * *

Judy tapped her foot impatiently. She'd already been there for five minutes. Nick, on the other paw, was still making his way up. _Lazy fox._ The tree they were on now wasn't even that tall. At best, it was half the height of the previous tree. As she waited, she looked out at the intricate design of the sky tram system. Though it was slower, many jungle residents prefered to use it over cars. It was quieter, more relaxing. There was a nice view, not as nice as the previous platform, but nice nonetheless. Plus, most animals lived higher up in the trees didn't want to or couldn't walk up the stairs. _Similar to my partner._ Her ears perked up when she finally saw him coming up the stairs. "Oh, wow, a new world record!" She exclaimed sarcastically, slowly clapping her paws.

Nick reached the top and crumpled in a pile on the ground. He looked up at her, unimpressed. "Yes, well, I'd take a bow, but that would require standing up." He started dragging himself over to the tram gondola.

"Stand up! Everyone's looking at you." The embarrassed bunny scolded, looking around at all the gawking animals.

Nick stopped and raised a finger. "The eyes of others are our prisons, their thoughts are our cages." He continued crawling.

Judy rolled her eyes. "Virginia Woolf, yes, amazing lady. But that doesn't apply here. You represent the ZPD, so _stand up_!" She said through clenched teeth.

The fox sighed and stood up, looking around at everyone staring at him. "What?" He said aggressively, causing everyone to look away. He smiled contently and held out his arm. "M'lady." She looked at him in amazement and proceeded to walk away. "Fine, suit yourself." He mumbled, following after her.

Arriving at the gondola, they gawked in shock at how much blood there was. The leopard had a sizeable hole in his chest, blood seeping out. In his paw he had a revolver, and at his side, a couple jambiyas. Nick pointed. "I bet ya those played a role in the murder of our leopard and elk friends."

Judy shrugged. "Probably." She turned to the crowd of workers who were waiting for them to finish. "Hey, which one of you called this in?"

"That would be me." A voice replied meekly. The crowd stirred and looked around, confused as to who said that. Eventually they parted and a tiny mouse who couldn't be more than twenty, walked to the front. She seemed bashful, almost afraid, and rightfully so, considering what she had witnessed.

Judy felt bad for the poor mouse. "Aw, sweetie, why don't you come over here and talk to us, okay?" She motioned for the doe to follow her away from the crime scene.

The trio walked away from the tram and the crowd. Judy tried easing the mouse's nerves. "Ok, so, I'm Judy and this is my partner Nick. As you can see, we're both detectives from the ZPD. And from what I see," She looked at the nametag. "Your name is Anna." Anna smiled meekly and nodded.

Nick smiled. "Alright Anna, we'll try to make this as quick as possible. When did you first notice the, uh, mess?"

"Well, my job is to check each car after animals get out and before any get in, to make sure no items were forgotten and that there's not a mess." She chuckled nervously. "Obviously there was a mess. It was _terrifying_ in itself, but then the poor leopard _moved_. As you can imagine, me, a tiny mouse, seeing this massive leopard, covered in blood, _move_ toward me, it left me speechless, I couldn't move for a few seconds. But I snapped out of it and pushed the stop button, but by the time I got back he had stopped moving, so I figured he was dead." She took a deep breath, and it seemed like she was finished, but as she looked down the long line of tram cars, her eyes opened wide in horror. "No no no..."

Judy was a little alarmed by Anna's sudden change of mentality. "What's wrong?"

"I forgot to let the passengers in the tram cars know why we stopped. They've been sitting there for-" She looked around for a clock, eventually spotting one, her body slumping with dread. "Almost _two hours_!"

Nick almost laughed out loud, finding the situation rather amusing, but Judy's death glare stopped him. He shrugged and smiled. "I'm sure the passengers will understand." He tried to reassure her. "Besides, you couldn't have moved the line forward even if you had remembered, so nothing would've changed."

"I hope so." Anna sulked.

"Well, I guess that's all you can do for us right now, but if you leave your number with that officer over there," Nick pointed. "We'll call you if we need anything." The doe thanked the detectives and headed back over to the crowd to give her information to an officer.

Judy rubbed her paws over her ears. She couldn't believe the leopard could've still been alive all the way from one station to the one he was at now. It was a good half mile at least, and at the rate the trams went, it must've taken at least fifteen minutes to get here.

Nick snapped her out of her thoughts. "Okay, we still have one more scene to go, and I'm still hungry, so let's get moving."

* * *

By the time they arrived at the third and final scene, CSI was already going through and packing everything up. One of the only things that still remained was the body. Nick took off his sunglasses, partly because it was getting dark, but mostly out of shock. He'd never seen an animal that'd fallen from such a height before. The otter appeared to have belly flopped onto the ground, causing his body to flatten. It was sorta like he made a transition from the three dimensional world to a two dimensional one. Nick looked up, noting how high the tree was and where the first platform they had been on was on said tree. "How far do you think the fall was?"

The fox's question snapped Judy out of her trance of disgust. She looked first to Nick, then up to the platform. "The tree itself is around two hundred feet, so I'm thinking the platform is between… a hundred fifty and a hundred seventy feet. It's a pretty far fall."

The ME scraped up the otter's body and loaded it into a body bag. Workers came and started to spray off the blood, attempting to erase all memory of the incident. "Well," Nick clasped his paws together. "I don't know what else we can do here. I have a feeling the case already half-solved itself, so we can pick up where we left off tomorrow at roll call. For now, I say we go home, eat, and sleep, cause the next few days are gonna be really long and difficult."

Judy simply nodded and started walking back to their cruiser. She wondered how they would fare in their search for Daga and Jack. Both were masters of stealth and deception, they probably knew how to hide in plain sight, and, probably the most worrying thing, they were proficient in their fighting skills. It was gonna be difficult, but Judy knew that together, the fox and bunny could solve this case.

* * *

 **Hey! Another chapter completed. Sorry it's rather short. When I started writing, I didn't plan on having to plan out what I was gonna write. But, as it turns out, it's rather difficult to write about a fictional crime without knowing at least some of the planned out details. So, if anyone would like, leave a suggestion about how the story could go, and maybe I'll consider it. God knows I need suggestions. :) That's all from me for now, real quick before this is over, I'd like to thank Astorathgrim for editing my chapter.**

 ***Side note: When Nick starts crawling on the second platform, he says "The eyes of others are our prisons, their thoughts are our cages." I was looking for a quote about not caring what people think about you, specifically by someone whose name I could possibly pun into an animal's name, and what do ya know, the first result was Virginia Woolf. And just so you know, I added the two 'are's, the actual quote word for word is "The eyes of others our prisons, their thoughts our cages."**


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